Thought leaders from the seemingly disparate worlds of human rights and the arts will come together for the Galway International Summer School on the Arts and Human Rights from 9-11 July. This landmark event, a world-first, is hosted by NUI Galway’s Irish Centre for Human Rights, and will take place in the days immediately before the Galway International Arts Festival.

THE GREAT War’s impact on Galway city, the slaughter in the trenches, and recruiting Galwegians to fight for “king and country” will be the subject of a series of public lectures taking place at the Galway City Museum, every Thursday from 7pm to 8pm.

The issue of delivering healthcare fairly, using a human rights framework, will be discussed at NUI Galway on 6 February. The public event is part of the President’s Ethics Initiative and President Michael D. Higgins will open the event.

“The only valid poll is on election day!” is the guff politicians huff and bluster with when the latest round of opinion polls turn out badly for them. Yet fear not reader, Insider can assure you all politicians, regardless of what they say publicly, take opinion poll findings very seriously.

The Irish Centre for Human Rights (ICHR), NUI Galway, in close collaboration with project partner the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), has won a major EU contract for Irish Law and Social Data Research and will become Ireland’s new national focal point for the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA). This is the first time that the prestigious FRANET-Ireland contract for data collection and research services on fundamental rights issues in Ireland has been awarded to an Irish University-led bid.

Cllr Terry O’Flaherty’s relative Bernard Laffey was the uncle of the late Bridie O’Flaherty, the former mayor of Galway city. Bernard was born in Clooncah, Woodlawn, and at the age of 20 was serving in the first battalion of the Irish Guards.